Discussion

Human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, is a neglected tropical disease which has been targeted by the World Health Organisation WHO for elimination as a public health problem by 2020. However, although over the last 10 years the number of annual reported cases has shown a steady decline, major challenges are still ahead to reach the 2020 goal, and even greater challenges to completely block transmission. Among these is the existence of natural genetic variation in both the host and parasite, and overlooked reservoirs of the causative agent, Trypanosoma brucei gambiense. Here I will discuss some of the progress we have made in understanding genetic variation and disease transmission, and how we can exploit this knowledge to combat sleeping sickness once and for all.